The man no-one wants to face - Haaland fires Norway to history

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. This video can not be played Figure caption, Haaland double fires Norway into World Cup quarter-finals By Adwaidh Rajan BBC Sport journalist Published 7 minutes ago Erling Haaland's bobbing blonde hair is usually one of the easiest things to spot on a football pitch. More often than not, it is charging into open space at full tilt, defenders scrambling in pursuit. That was not so much the case on Sunday, but still he scored twice, as Norway beat Brazil 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time. The 25-year-old only had four touches inside the box in the last-16 tie - but with one of them, he broke the deadlock 79 minutes in. And his second 11 minutes later - a low drive from outside the box - underlined the clinical edge that makes him one of the most feared strikers in world football as he moved level with France's Kylian Mbappe and Argentina's Lionel Messi at the top of the Golden Boot standings with seven goals. "You don't see any other player doing that," former Scotland winger Pat Nevin called the winning goal on BBC Radio 5 Live. "There was not a chance there. There wasn't a half chance, quarter chance. Nothing." "People constantly talk about how many touches he has," said former England striker Ian Wright on ITV. "He didn't have to have a lot of touches." Haaland's goals meant Norway sealed a historic victory over the South Americans. Competing at a World Cup for the first time since 1998, Stale Solbakken's side now stand just three wins away from an unlikely world title with England or co-hosts Mexico to come next. But with gamechanger Haaland in their ranks, Norway will believe anything is possible. "He has given the whole country belief that they can go really far in this competition," said Wayne Rooney on BBC One. Haaland's scary numbers for Norway Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Erling Haaland averages a goal every 0.88 games for Norway Haaland's international CV already had a five-goal haul against Moldova and another five hat-tricks. "Haaland is a massive character, a personality," former England defender Gary Neville told ITV. "Sometimes it's said 'he's never done it on the world stage' and that's now been removed." Haaland has indeed delivered on the biggest stage with seven goals in four games. The 25-year-old forward had scored twice against both Iraq and Senegal in the group stage before he was rested, as Norway made 10 changes, in a 4-1 defeat by France. But it seems to have paid dividends with his double against Brazil adding to the late winner against Ivory Coast in the last 32. Haaland has scored 62 goals in 54 senior internationals - averaging a goal every 71 minutes. More impressively, only six of those goals have been penalties. The Manchester City striker has now scored in each of his past 14 competitive appearances for Norway, claiming 27 goals in that run. You will have to go all the way back to October 2024 to find a